Let's go my way!
by Midnightshadow001
Summary: Natalia leaves her past behind along with her love for Ivan...literally! But when she decides to go travelling, she definitely didn't see Alfred coming her way. Alfred x Natalia America x Belarus
1. Chapter 1

"I'm so done with all of this."

Natalia stood staring out the window of her brother's home, watching her brother run off with Yao into the darkened city streets. She knew her brother didn't love her, but some part of her kept wishing that he would. But now…her love was lost.  
No really. She didn't love him anymore.  
"I'm so over it. I'm done."  
Yao always had her brother's eye. She would never admit it, but she was truly fascinated by his culture. Her brother, however, was fascinated by Yao himself. So it was obvious they liked each other.

"Whatever. I'm done."

The more she told herself that, the more she truly believed it. She was so foolish. But now the winds changed, and along with it went Natalia's decisions. It created a strong impulse in her; an urge to leave. Just leave.

She gathered up her items in a suitcase. The girl had been planning this for so long that she had all of her belongings with her. Any trace of herself in her brother's house was taken with her, so no one would ever know that Natalia had once dwelled there.

She didn't even know where she was going. She didn't even care. As long as it took her away from the past.

Once Ivan disappeared from view, Natalia ventured out of the house and headed in the opposite direction of her brother.

"Where is the last stop for this train?"  
"Before it heads back? That would be in Rome, Italy."

"And how much does it cost to get there?"

"Let me see," Natalia bit her lip nervously as the ticket salesman glanced at a computer screen, "That would be about 4346 Rubles."

"Oh," Well that was pricey, "Umm…here." She handed him the Russian equivalent of one hundred and forty dollars and the salesman ripped off a ticket and handed it to her. She was now on her way.

"Thank you." She tucked the ticket into her purse as she left the line and glanced at the clock. There had been about an hour before the train left; Natalia decided it was better to get on the train early and get a nice seat rather than waiting for the last minute and sitting next to someone unpleasant. However, she had a hard time pushing through the crowds of people in the busy train station while lugging the suitcase behind her, though she managed to squeeze her way over to her train.

"This is it."  
She didn't even know why she was going to Rome. She had never been there and everyone talked so much about it. Natalia supposed it was because it was the farthest she could go at the current moment, since the train to Madrid had left a long time ago, and she didn't wish to wait too long for another train.

"Ticket please."  
"Here." She handed the cheerful conductor her ticket, to which he stamped a hole through it and gave it back to her. Natalia picked up her suitcase by the handle and somehow tugged it up into the train. Being a train that went long distances, there were compartments for the passengers, which caused her to let out a sigh of relief.

Making her way to the very end of the train, she chose to sit in the last compartment in the caboose. The idea of compartments was wonderful to her; it was private and she had the window seat all to herself. No one would take the time to travel all the way to the end of the train, so she felt that this peaceful solitude would last for a while.

She slipped her luggage underneath her seat and glanced around the room. There were faux leather burgundy seats, and though the room was large enough to fit six people, it seemed even larger since it was only her. She glanced out the open window at the passerby, and for the first time in a while she felt something unusual.

Anticipation. Or was it excitement?

Natalia sighed. It was probably both. She was going on an adventure. She was on her own. She had the entire world to see and she could do whatever she wanted. "Maybe I can go to South America…" The girl smiled to herself. She used to read about all of the interesting things there, like the ancient ruins and interesting people. Now that she thought of it, she really wanted to go see a lot of places. Different cultures really intrigued her.

Oh, and then travel the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean…and the Caribbean. They both seemed like such romantic places. Maybe it was just her though; she had seen so many chick flicks and read so many romance novels that took place there. It made her wish she could go there and see what all the excitement was about.

As she was lost in her thoughts, however, she missed the bright blond ahoge bobbing in the crowd of people.

Author's note: I love BelarusxAmerica (NataliaxAlfred). There are some really cute fics for this pair out there, and I just want to put this one out there too. Hope you like it, and I'm sure the next chapter will be up soon!

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Hetalia. Or any character associated with it. But it would be nice to meet a guy like Alfred…*sighs pensively*


	2. Chapter 2: To Natalia's Surprise

As she was lost in her thoughts, however, she missed the bright blond ahoge bobbing in the crowd of people.

It was about 8 p.m. when a shrill whistle rang throughout the train station.

"Last call for Train 108 going to Kiev, Ukraine."

So that was where they were going; to her sister Katyusha's house. Not that Natalia would see her there, since she didn't breathe a word to anyone about her departure. But now that she thought about it, stopping at her sister's home would be very convenient. Perhaps she could buy a map of Europe from the train station.

"If I wish to travel, I will need a map...and maybe some brochures."

Many train stations had people selling tourism guides around. That would certainly help her find which sights to see in each country they stopped in. However, she couldn't stay too long in each country or else she would miss her train. Not only that, but she wasn't quite sure…

Natalia opened her purse and glanced inside.

Well, she had quite a bit of money. The girl took all of her life savings (or the savings she kept at her brother's house anyway) so she was off to a good start. If she really needed extra money, she'd just go to her house and get some more, since she lived right next to Katyusha and Ivan.

"It's been two hours. The train should be leaving by now."  
She peered out the window at the travelers rushing to get on the train. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered all of those sappy romance movies where the girl would leave and the guy would run after the train just as it left, shouting her name and whatnot. Then he would sprint as fast as he could to climb onto the caboose, and he would apologize to the girl and they'd live happily ever after.

No. She wanted to leave him. She would be happy if he never showed up to get her back.

Before her eyes the crowd of people seemed to dissolve as the train began whistling more and more, and soon she felt the train slowly begin to roll forward. It was nice, knowing she was getting away. There was a whole world out there, and Natalia was ready to see it.

The chugging sounds the train made began to grow louder as it picked up momentum. Gazing out of the window, Natalia watched the people roll on by as the moderate pace of the train pushed forward. The speed began to grow more rapid, and as they went faster the blond watched the train station get left behind and the sight of Moscow at night met her eyes.

Picking a point in the city at random, she stared at it for a moment.

"What if brother was on that city street there…? No, it doesn't matter. It would be too late for him to try and stop the train now. I'm leaving already."

With this almost comforting thought, she pulled out her copy of, 'The Wizard of Oz' and began reading as the scenery of the illuminated city passed by and would soon be left behind.

"Knock, knock!"

"Hmm?" Natalia opened her deep blue eyes to gaze over at the door. She must've fallen asleep while reading; however she rubbed her eyes and murmured softly, "Come in."

"Excuse me, dear." A tall brunette came by pushing a cart full of food, "It's nearly dinner time. Would you like something to eat?" It was still dinner time? How long had she been asleep?

"What time is it?" The Belarusian girl silently reminded herself to get a watch.

"It's 9:32. It takes a while to get all the way back here." The young woman gave her a kind smile, "Would you like anything?"  
"No, thank you. I already ate before I boarded." It was true. She made sure she ate before she left Ivan's house so she wouldn't have to spend money on things like this.

The brunette gave her a tired grin before asking, "Are you waiting for someone, dear?"

"Hmm?" Since the compartment was empty, the woman must've been assuming things, "No. I'm traveling by myself."

"Hmm…you meeting someone in Kiev?"  
"No." Though her sister could show up at random, that was a fact.

"I don't mean to ask personal questions," The woman leaned against the cart with a curious look, "But why are you traveling alone?"  
"I…I am sight seeing."  
"Very nice. I hope you enjoy your trip-"

"AWESOME! THE FOOD CART! DO YOU HAVE ANY HAMBUGERS?"

Both girls looked startled out of their minds as Natalia heard footsteps bounding over to where they were. She didn't know who shouted, but she had a very sneaky suspicion it was very familiar.

"_Oh no. Please don't let it be Ivan."_

Wait. That made no sense. Ivan didn't like hamburg-

"Oh my-" Natalia was at a complete loss for words. There was only one person she knew who sounded like that.  
There was only one person she knew who sounded so _American._

"Hey! Do you have any hamburgers-" The voice stopped.

There stood a tall man with sunny blonde hair and sky blue eyes gazing wide eyed at her through his glasses.

Before Natalia's very eyes stood the one and only Alfred F. Jones.

"A-Alfred?" She squeaked in shock. Both of them stared at each other in utter surprise.  
"Natalia…" Alfred blinked for a moment before his super bright smile lit up his face, "Natalia!"

Author's note: Oh Alfred. You and your hamburgers. XD Thanks for the lovely reviews everyone! I can't wait to write the next chapter; I like where this is going.

Disclaimer (again): I don't own Hetalia or anything related to it. Nor do I own the Wizard of Oz (though my teacher has a dog that looks exactly like Toto!)


	3. Chapter 3: Alfred's Awesome Idea

This was bad.

This was really bad.

At the moment Natalia was being enveloped in a warm hug from her cheerful American friend while the lady with the food cart said something about privacy and left. Natalia couldn't help her blush creeping into her pale cheeks as Alfred let go of her and flashed a million watt smile.

"How are you? It's so cool that we saw each other here!" He smiled, though Natalia's frown deepened.

Why, oh why was Alfred Jones on this train?

He was trying to stop her from leaving, wasn't he? Natalia mentally gasped. What if Ivan had told him to go get her off the train and drag her back to his home where he can ignore her for the rest of his life while his sadistic side laughed? There was no way she'd let that happen!  
"I won't let you take me back!" Natalia yelled and glared at the confused blonde.

"Take you back?" Alfred's smile disappeared for a moment, "What are you talking about?"  
"You're trying to take me back to brother, aren't you?" She cried and took a step back, "I am never going back to see him!"  
"Whoa! Chill, Natalia!" Alfred's gaze softened as a light smile appeared on his face, "I'm not taking you anywhere! I didn't even know you were on this train!"  
"…Oh." Well now she felt a little idiotic. She was just being too paranoid again!

"Sorry Natalia, I don't go kidnapping girls from trains in my spare time!" He laughed at the idea, "But it's really funny that we met by coincidence!"

Alfred's claims made sense. Besides, if he really wanted to take her back, he would've done it before the train even left. But then…why was he on this train?

Natalia gazed up at Alfred with uncertainty before motioning for him to sit down. He happily accepted the invitation as he plopped down on the seat across from her and continued to smile brightly. There seemed to be no end to his cheer; it was like a light bulb that never turned off.

The blonde girl smoothed out her navy blue skirt and took her seat. It didn't seem like a coincidence that they met each other on the same train though, which was why she accused him of trying to take her back. But then again, Alfred was the most unpredictable person she knew. He even traveled all the way to Paraguay for Chinese food! So why should she be surprised to see him pop out of no where?  
"Why did you leave Ivan?"  
The question surprised her, not because it was unexpected, but because she was too consumed in her thoughts again. The silence felt strong, so when he broke it she naturally reacted by blinking a few times.

"I am done with brother. I don't wish to see him anymore. I don't…love him anymore."

The stillness was almost choking this time, and though she kept her gaze away from Alfred, she could still feel his softened stare upon her. She mentally hoped he would say something, even if he were going to doubt her. Anything to break this uncomfortable hush was enough.

"I…see." Well that would suffice. Natalia looked up to meet his concerned gaze, and in a sturdy tone she said, "I'm done waiting for him. I'm just finished. I left without alerting him, and so when I saw you I assumed he sent you to…well…anyways, it doesn't matter." She folded her hands on her knees, to which Alfred reassuringly patted her hand. Natalia flushed a little before he spoke softly, "It's alright to walk away from the past. Sometimes you need to in order to move on."

His words spoke true to her heart. As he withdrew his hand she remembered faintly that he had pulled away from Arthur, so he could relate to her situation. But she didn't want to think about her brother. That was the past.

"So…why are you on this train?" Her voice was so quiet she doubted he heard her.

"Oh! My boss came to talk to Ivan's boss and they ate hamburgers together! It was business stuff!" Alfred's laughed surely echoed down the hallways, "Since it's the beginning of summer, my boss gave me a vacation! Isn't that awesome? So I'm planning on traveling Europe a bit before going home to do a documentary on the best fast food restaurants in the country!"

Natalia didn't know whether to face palm or to laugh and call him an idiot.

Instead she tried to suppress a rather amused expression on her face while Alfred's boisterous laugh filled the air. He leaned back in his seat in a relaxed manner before piping up, "So what about you?"

"Pardon?"  
"What'cha doing? I mean, I know you're leaving and stuff…but do you know what you want to do now?"  
"I'm going sight seeing," Natalia replied calmly, "And then I shall probably return to my home, but not for a while." She watched his baby blue eyes widen considerably causing her to mentally inquire what he was about to do. She didn't feel the need to panic, though she probably should've seen his question coming her way.

"Natalia!" He gasped in excitement, "Why don't we go sight seeing together?"  
Oh no. _Why did she have to open her big mouth? Why did he have to ask?_

"Alfred, I'd rather be alo-" Though she stopped short as she saw the ultimate secret weapon of Alfred F. Jones that made nearly everyone bend to his will: the pouting puppy dog face.

"Please Natalia? We'll have an awesome time!"  
She sighed in defeat and fixed her gaze upon her Mary Jane shoes, "I…I suppose we could-"

"THAT'S GREAT!" The bouncy blonde's shouts nearly made her fall out of her seat, "We'll go to Feliciano's place and Romano's place and see the giant fountain and see the tower at Francis' house and the huge clock at the old man's place and then we'll get some burgers and fries and this is gonna be AWESOME!"

Natalia felt like burying her face in her hands. What had she gotten herself into? 

Author's Note: Heheh, I was watching tv and I heard that the U.S. president and the Russian president had hamburgers together so I couldn't resist putting that in there! And there are always documentaries on tv about fast food in the U.S. and I can see Alfred doing that! Natalia's really paranoid! ;) Hoped you enjoyed it, and thanks for all the reviews and favs everyone! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. But my cousin has Mary Jane shoes!


	4. Chapter 4: A Sweet Tooth's Love

She was pretty.

Alfred was watching a sleeping Natalia as the train zoomed off into the night. She had scooted over to the window during his one sided conversation about how people kept thinking he was related to Freddy Jones from Scooby Doo. As he rambled on, she laid her head on the glass window and gazed outside at the scenery before the chugging sounds of the train lulled her to a gentle sleep. Alfred didn't even notice until he asked her a question and didn't hear any answer.

Nevertheless, she was pretty.

While he wanted to smack himself for thinking of such things about his friend, a part of him was convinced that there was no harm in admiring her looks. After all, if he had voice them out loud, it would be a compliment. She had such a pretty, pale face that Alfred couldn't help but gaze at her.  
"She's my friend…I shouldn't be an idiot."

The blonde decided to occupy his mind with something else. The traveling! That's right! Where should they go? Well, in Alfred's rants he had mentioned a few places in Rome and then Paris and even London. After that, maybe he could invite her over his house to go see NYC or something! Oh, and then he ought to take her to Connecticut: Home of the most popular McDonald's in the United States!

He was such a genius.

"I can't wait." He muttered with a smile and looked out the window at the night sky.

Natalia's eyes slowly fluttered open. She thought she heard someone talking and before she knew it she was met with the sight of blue eyes and a merry grin.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"

She…She was asleep? Oh my-she fell asleep! How did _that_ happen?

"_Oh,"_ Natalia's vision cleared, _"I only meant to close my eyes for a moment; not doze off!"_ However, it was probably near midnight by now, so of course it was past her bedtime.

Her blue eyes flickered over to Alfred. How he managed to stay awake was beyond her. _"Then again, he runs on caffeine. What was that saying again? 'America runs on Dunkin'?_" She remembered the times when he brought coffee into the meeting room that had that logo on it. For some reason, Natalia had found herself staring more at Alfred during those meetings.

"I was just saying something, so I hope I didn't wake you up."  
"Oh, um…no." Straightening up in her seat, she glanced out the window. Where were they now?  
"It's 11:45. One of the food cart ladies said we should be stopping in Kiev in a few minutes." Alfred pulled out a plastic bag from inside his coat. Inside Natalia saw what seemed to be tons of dark crackers with white frosting stuffed between them.

She wasn't even going to ask.

"I bought this from the food cart," Of course he would go buy food when she was asleep, "They're Oreo cookies!"  
"…Oreos?" A memory sprung up in her mind, reminding her of the time when she stayed at Alfred house.

"You used to love these, Natalia!" A nostalgic look shone in his eyes, "Here! Try some!"  
As she hesitantly took the bag, she reminisced about how she found a box of the delicious little cookies while searching through the cupboards of Alfred house for a glass. Since Alfred hadn't been home, Natalia tried to refrain from eating them without his permission, but curiosity got the best of her.

One bite was all it took before she completely emptied the whole box.

Surely it wasn't her fault though! She never saw anything like them at her home, or her brother's for that matter…well anyways, she would never admit it, but she had felt so terrible for eating them that she hid the box and tried to keep a straight face when Alfred got home with their dinner (McDonald's of course). While Alfred was stuffing his face with his second double cheeseburger, Natalia could only stare at her fries as her actions kept coming back to her. The blonde girl still remembered what had happened.

"…Alfred?"  
"Hmm?" He looked up in mid bite from his burger, "Whff ish it Nafifia?"  
"I…" She stopped for a moment, guilt making her unable to meet his gaze. He nodded to urge her to continue, curious as to why she was acting so strangely. She took a deep breath and before she thought twice she slammed her hands on the table and looked him straight in the eye.

"I ATE ALL THE COOKIES."

They stared at each other in silence with the ticking clock being the only noise heard.

And then, Alfred burst into laughter.  
"Didn't you hear me?" Natalia had yelled, "I'm being serious, Alfred Jones!"

Though Alfred couldn't even speak, as a dam broke inside of him and all of his laughter flew out in every direction. He couldn't even remember the last time he had laughed that hard. Pretty soon he had been rolling on the floor clutching his stomach while Natalia began growing angry. He thought it was some kind of joke!  
"Na-Natalia!" He gasped between his laughs, only to start choking on the bite he didn't swallow.

As Natalia forced him on his feet and slammed her hand on his back to get him to stop choking, Alfred somehow swallowed the bite and gave her the most gleeful smile she had ever seen on his face.  
"You're so funny!" She huffed and turned away angrily

"I'm being completely serious, Alfred! Here I was feeling guilty that I ate them without asking you and you go laughing about it! Of all the heartless things-" Natalia suddenly felt his hand lightly patting her head and she turned to see the American with a sweet smile on his face and wiping tears from his eyes.

"If you want, I'll stop by the store tomorrow and get some more!"

And from that day on, Natalia lived off of Oreos. They weren't just 'Milk's favorite cookie,' but they were her favorite too.

So there sat Natalia on a train gazing at the love of her sweet tooth. She slowly brought it towards her mouth and she bit off a little piece.

Happiness. It was happiness in the form of a cookie.

Alfred was pleased with her reaction, for as she smiled blissfully a grin as wide as an Eagle's wingspan grew on his face. She liked it! He knew she'd remember them!

"We used to sit by the pool eating these! Boy, a cold glass of milk with those babies was awesome during the summer!" Much to Alfred's contentment, Natalia had nodded in agreement.

But the laws of physics caught up with them, as they felt the force of the train pushing back. "Cool! We're slowing down! We must be stopping soon!" Alfred gazed out the window with the excitement of a child as the lights of Kiev shimmered in the distance. A tap on his shoulder distracted him though. He turned his head to see Natalia's blue eyes blinking at him before he noticed her outstretched hand offering him some Oreos.  
"Thanks!" Alfred grinned and popped on of the cookies in his mouth.

They sat for a little bit in silence, just munching on Oreos until the last one had disappeared. By that time, however, the train slowed down considerably, and now it rolled calmly into the approaching train station. Surrounded by the lights of Kiev at night, Natalia and Alfred nearly seemed entranced as they pulled into the train station, and then the lights had been replaced by the people rushing by with their tickets and luggage.

"Yay! We're here!" Alfred adjusted his glasses and took the empty bag from Natalia, who had reached under her seat for her luggage. As she pulled the big blue suitcase out Alfred stared at her as though he had just remembered something. Natalia immediately sighed.

"You forgot your luggage in the other compartment, didn't you?" But before she finished that sentence Alfred flew out the door in a frenzy to get his bag. He was so careless sometimes.

Hoisting the luggage bag up was like trying to lift a kitchen table, but once it sat upright she knew she could just roll it. With her navy blue purse dangling from her arm, she walked out of the compartment, tugging along her possessions.

"Excuse me! Sorry ma'am! Pardon me! Coming through!" Natalia looked shocked as Alfred practically flew past all the passengers over to her. Behind him was a huge suitcase with the American flag design all over it, and travel stickers from each state were stuck all over it. "I don't get why we shouldn't just leave our bags on here if we're coming back soon." He murmured to himself.

"Well, someone could steal something from your bag. I do not feel confident that my bag would be safe if I left it here." Natalia replied before she began pulling her bag once more.

"Oh wait, let me get that!" Alfred grabbed her suitcase, "After all, heroes are supposed to be chivalrous!"

There was no point in arguing with him.

He motioned for her to go first, and she climbed down the stairs and out into the whirling crowds of people. As soon as Alfred was out of the train as well, she turned to the conductor.  
"How much time is there until the train leaves?"  
"About one hour, Miss."

"Ah…thank you." Natalia turned around, "We have one hour till-Alfred? Alfred!" Where did that crazy American go? The blonde was standing next to her two seconds ago!

"_But then again, his attention span only focuses on something for about two seconds before he gets distracted by something else."_

"Natalia!" She heard the name in the distance and turned to see a bright blonde piece of hair sticking up like an antenna, and then an arm waving next to it. Sighing out of slight annoyance (but mostly relief) she made her way through the people over to Alfred, who had been standing next to a huge stand full of newspapers. "I asked this guy here if there's a McDonald's nearby, but he doesn't know." Alfred pouted while Natalia's eyebrow twitched.  
"Don't leave without telling me!" She tried to hide the anxiety in her voice, but she only ended up sounding more worried. After seeing his apologetic grin, she looked around to see another stand not far from them filled with travel magazines and what not.

"Come with me." Without waiting for him she rushed over to the stand, hoping to find a map. Alfred tagged along and looked over her shoulder at the many colorful travel magazines, mostly of Ukraine, though a few of them talked about Europe.  
"Do you have a map of Europe?" Natalia peered over at the man behind the counter; a short bald dude with a mustache and a cheerful grin that made him resemble a creepy French guy, only different from the stereotypical Francis. No, this guy seemed more like he'd be playing an accordion through the streets of Paris at night. Kind of nice, but a little sketchy.

"Here!" He pulled out a magazine titled, 'All about Europe' to which the first few inside pages had maps on all the different train routes throughout the continent and the maps of the famous cities people most often visited. Natalia thanked the wannabe accordion player for such a detailed magazine on European travel before gazing into her purse and asking, "I only have Rubles on me."

"Oh, that's ok!" The man grinned, "I'll take Rubles. How about 1860 Rubles?"  
"Um, I don't know who you're trying to kid, but 318 Ukrainian Grivnas are not equal to 1860 Rubles. You're trying to tell her that a forty dollar magazine is actually sixty dollars."

Both the man and Natalia stared at Alfred in shock. Did he really just say that?

"C'mon. Tricking girls for their money isn't just unfair, but it's not cool." No trace of a smile was on Alfred's face as he furrowed his brow at the man, who murmured something and then stuttered, "I-It's 1239 Rubles."

Natalia wore a blank face as she began to pay him, though a hand seemed to stop her. To her surprise Alfred paid the guy exact change and gave her back her money. After tucking his wallet away, she grabbed Alfred's arm and brought him a good distance away from the mustachioed man. As Alfred steadied the luggage bags, Natalia asked, "How did you know all that?"

"A little something called, 'Wall Street', Natalia!" Alfred adjusted his glasses and gave her a grin, "I always have to know the exchange rate between all of the countries. I may look like an idiot, but I do know foreign exchange rates to each other and to my own currency."

"…Oh." He wasn't as dumb as he looked, "Well…um…Thank you for paying for this." She waved the magazine around and Alfred shook his head. "No problem."  
"But next time I'm paying."  
"All right." He smirked, "Besides, I'm a hero! It's my duty to be chivalrous to women!"  
"Can you not shout that out loud?" Natalia hissed as she looked around. She didn't want to attract attention to herself.

"Well, let's look at this." Natalia opened the page and glanced at the maps, "I was thinking about traveling around Rome, since that's the last stop of this train."

"Cool! We can see all the statues and stuff there! They have cool ice cream too!" Alfred pointed to another city in Italy, "Venice is where they have those cool gondola things! We can ride those while we're there!"  
Natalia blushed. That was one of those things couples would do in cheesy commercials! Though Alfred didn't even get the idea that it was supposed to be for couples and certainly didn't seemed bothered by going with a friend, Natalia's mind was going crazy. _"If he thinks of it in a 'just friends' way, then I should keep that mentality too. I shouldn't jump to conclusions."_ So she nodded in agreement though her face still felt warm. Gazing back at the map, she tried to find another city to focus on for after their trip to Italy. They stood there for a while flipping through the magazine and reading articles about the different places and things they ought to see, but before they had even gotten halfway through the thick magazine a voice called out from the crowd.

"Natalia! Natalia!" She and Alfred looked up from the map in confusion as the voice neared, and before the blue clad girl knew what was going on her breath was gone as a huge bosom crushed her face.  
"Natalia! Oh Natalia I was so worried about yooouuuu!"  
"Sister! I-*gasp*-can't-*gasp*-breathe!" Natalia struggled to peel herself away from her voluptuous sister. The short haired blonde had been crying as she held onto her sister's hands.  
"Sister," Natalia caught her breath, "What are you doing here?"  
"I called Ivan to talk to you and he said you left and he didn't know where you had gone!" Tears welled up in her eyes, "And I came here to get on the train to go see Ivan and find you but you're heeeerrrrreee!" She pulled her sister back into a hug, knocking the wind out of her once more as Natalia struggled for air.

"Sister! Can't….breathe! Let…go!"  
As Natalia pulled away from her weeping sister once more, Alfred stood by and watched the spectacle in amusement. He didn't really know Katyusha that well, but he was aware that his brother Mattie seemed to have the hots for her. No matter what the Canadian said, Alfred was sure that the stares of adoration and affection Mattie gave her during meetings were more than just 'friendly'. But before he could think about anything else he saw the Ukrainian woman staring at him through tears.

"Oh Mr. Jones!" She grabbed his hand and shook it as she broke down into a fit of sobs, "On behalf of my family I am grateful that you are escorting my dear sister safely! I'm so happy to know you're there to make sure she's okay!"

"S-Sister!" Natalia looked horrified as she flushed with embarrassment. She couldn't believe what a scene her sister was making! Especially in front of Alfred!  
Alfred, however, gave Katyusha a reassuring smile, "Umm…You're welcome? Anyways, you don't have to call me Mr. Jones. It makes me feel like I'm a spy, not that that's not awesome. Call me Alfred!"

"O-Okay Alfred." Katyusha wiped away her tears as Alfred brightened.

"Besides, your sister and I are traveling around Europe! We going to go to Italy!"  
"Really?" Katyusha's tears resorted to sniffles as she gave a small smile, "That's sounds wonderful Mr. Jo- I-I mean Alfred! Oh! Natalia!" She turned to her sister, who had been as red as a cherry at this point. Natalia only nodded as her sister began talking, "Could you do me a favor? If you see Mr. Vargas while in Italy, please tell him I said thank you for the Italian cookbook he gave me!"  
"Sister," Natalia managed to say, "There are two Vargas brothers. Which one are you referring to?"  
"Oh, Feliciano!" She replied, and her sister nodded.

"All right. I'll tell him." A train whistle interrupted their thoughts, and Natalia glanced over at Alfred, who smiled brightly.

"Think we should get going?"  
"I…I suppose." Natalia turned to her sister, "I'll see you later, Katyusha. If you want, I'll get you a souvenir-"

"WAAAHH!" Katyusha began crying once more as she threw her arms around her sister, "I'm going to miss you so much! Have a lot of fun! Be careful! Don't eat English food! Stay away from Francis! Oh Natalia, you're so kind! Don't get me anything! Just have fun and if you're in trouble call me or Ivan! Do you need some money?"  
"Sis…ter…" Natalia's face had been turning blue as she finally got her sister's iron grip off, "I'm fine! Don't worry about me anyways. I have enough money."  
"Oh…" Katyusha blinked for a moment before turning to grab Alfred hand and shaking it, "Oh, Alfred, please take care of my darling baby sister! I am positive with your heroic stature you can keep her safe from harm! Thank you again for accompanying her! Do you need my phone number? I'll give you my number and Ivan's number to call if something happens!" She let go of Alfred's numb hand while a mortified Natalia stopped her. "There's no need sister! We'll be fine!"

Alfred, however, had been beaming in delight. Finally someone was recognizing him to be a hero! "Don't worry! I'll keep Natalia safe! We'll have loads of fun!" He grinned cheerfully, to which Katyusha nodded like a bobble head and wiped away her tears.

"We need to go, Alfred." Natalia reminded him, to which he grabbed the suitcases and the trio began walking over to the conductor. While the Belarusian and the American fished for their tickets on their person, the Ukrainian girl continued to give her sister reminders on what to stay away from to be safe, much like a worried mother.

"Sister, I'll be fine!" Natalia repeated as she and Alfred handed the man their tickets.  
"I know you will, but the Trevi Fountain-"

"There's no way I'll drown in the fountain, Sister." Natalia sighed in exasperation as they got their tickets back with another hole through them. Katyusha nodded as she watched her sister climb up the stairs with Alfred behind her. They stood there for a moment as the pair waved at Katyusha.

"Goodbye, Sister." Natalia managed a small smile, though her sister burst into tears again.  
"Bye! Have fun! Be careful!" She cried.  
"Goodbye, Miss Katyusha!"  
"Goodbye Alfred! Take care of my sister, please! Thank you for everything!" Katyusha wiped away her tears and smiled at them before they eventually had to part.

"Your sister is really nice." Alfred said as he pushed their luggage bags under their seats. They returned to the same compartment in the back, and Natalia nodded at the American as he took his seat. "She worries too much," Natalia replied, "But she is kind."  
"Well, I guess the next stop is Italy!"  
"Umm, no," Natalia raised her brow at him, "The train is going to stop in Budapest, Hungary next."  
"Oh…well, maybe they have a McDonald's there! You know, I haven't had a Big Mac for about seven hours now?"  
Natalia sighed but then gave a very faint smile.

"As long as you have more Oreos, I really don't care about that greasy fast food."

Author's Note: Whew! This was really long! Nearly seven pages! I'll probably have to break up the next one and make it a lot shorter, so that there'll be more chapters. This was a lot of fun to write though! Heheh, Natalia has a love for Oreos! And Katyusha cries a lot…well, she's worried for her sister. Thanks a bunch for the reviews and favs everyone!

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Hetalia or any character associated with it, though I would like some Oreos…


	5. Chapter 5: Dawn in Budapest

"Ever been to Budapest?"  
"Hmm?" Natalia glanced at him after gazing out the window, "No, I haven't, though I have seen many pictures about it. It is a beautiful city, especially at night."  
"Every city seems beautiful at night." Natalia nodded in agreement. She didn't know what it was about cities after dusk, though perhaps it was because daytime and nightfall in cities contrasted so harshly. During the day, a city would be bustling and busy, with everyone mind on work. It would be noisy and crowded.

However, at nighttime, cities were illuminated, as if stars fell upon them or millions of candles had been lit. And even though it would still be crowded, there would be a calmer, more peaceful air about it. It made it beautiful.

"What does the magazine say about Budapest?" Alfred asked. Natalia peered down at the open literature and flipped through the pages curiously. "There seem to be many old buildings there. Many beautiful churches, like the Saint Elizabeth Church. There's a Museum of Fine Arts, and a place called the Hero's Square-"

"Hero's Square? That sounds so cool!" Blue eyes lit up instantaneously.  
"Alfred, when they say 'Hero' they are probably referring to the loyal men that have died for this country."  
"Still, I think that's awesome!" Alfred raised his arms and placed his hands behind his head, "It's thoughtful of people to make memorials for others who have died."  
"True…"  
"Hey!" Alfred sat upright, "Why don't we go see it? I have a camera phone; we can take pictures there!"  
"Don't be absurd, Alfred," She gaped at the man before pointing at the magazine, "If the train were to leave in less than an hour, there's no way we'd be able to get there and back!"  
"Yeah we can!" Alfred shouted before punching the air, "Cause I'm the Hero!"  
Natalia groaned and placed the magazine over her face, so that Alfred couldn't see her smile. It seemed like they were going to go whether or not the train was going to leave.

"Alfred, who will look after our luggage?" Natalia certainly didn't want to leave all of her nice dresses and worldly possessions unattended. It they got stolen, she'd be devastated.  
"Well…we'll run reaaaaallly fast and then get back! Or take a taxi!" Surely he must be kidding, right? There was no way they'd get there in time. Besides…  
"My money is completely in Russian currency." Natalia looked over at her purse before sighing, "Even if we did exchange our money for Hungarian Forint, we would have no time to see the Hero's Square." She couldn't pay a taxi driver in Hungary with Russian money, nor could Alfred do the same with American currency. However, Alfred didn't seem to want to give up on the idea of going there, though Natalia was positive he wouldn't act on it.  
"So we'll just run." Alfred said with a grin.

Natalia gave up hope and wondered how in the world she thought this man was smarter than he looked back in Ukraine.

To say Natalia was nervous about this was an understatement. She was mentally going crazy as her mind had been set on edge. Unfortunately for her, she could never tell whether the energetic nation was serious or not. Nearing their destination, she could only worry about how they would get back in time to reach the train if Alfred really did want to go there.

They had been on the train for hours now, and during most of those hours, she had fallen asleep. Since they had left Ukraine at about 1 in the morning, they had been traveling in the zooming train for about five hours. However, Alfred had woken her up not too long ago saying that they'd be arriving in Budapest soon. Even now she stared out the window to catch the sight of the city at dawn.

"Whoa…is that…?" Alfred looked up to see the girl's deep blue eyes staring at something off in the distance. Immediately he pressed his face up against the glass, gazing out.

There stood the beautiful sight of Budapest resting under the twilit sky. Lights dotted all over the city, giving it a glow. A huge river rested between them and the city, and as Natalia's eyes traveled up stream, she pointed, "Look! It's the Szechenyi Chain Bridge! So this must be the Danube River!" She quickly skimmed through the magazine, "The eastern part of this city, Pest, is where we are now. The other side across the river is the part called Buda."

"Wow…And there's the Parliament Building!" Alfred and Natalia took in the sight of the wide ivory building with tall arches carved into it as if it were a handmade instrument, complete with beautiful detail in its architecture. The front part of the building stretched far with lights shining in each arch. Two long towers stood towards the center, framing the huge building behind it, which had been a brilliant white from all of the lights, and was topped with a burgundy dome. It was beautiful and sitting right in front of the water made it seem as if it were floating.

"It's so beautiful…" Natalia murmured as the lights of the city glowed in her eyes. Oh, if only she had a camera…

Wait. Alfred…

"Take a picture of it with your phone! Quickly!" The girl practically jumped out of her seat in excitement, startling the American, who whipped out the phone from his pocket and began to capture the sights digitally. "Make sure you get the bridge too!" Nearly forgetting all of her manners, she now pointed out everything he absolutely _had_ to take a picture of, or else Natalia would've been angry at herself the rest of the way to Italy for not taking the once-in-a-lifetime chance.

"This is awesome!" Alfred smiled as his phone made a 'click!' and he saved the last photo of Budapest, "You're a quick thinker, Natalia!"  
"We were both too caught up in the sights to remember to take a picture. I'm sure you would've thought of it too." As soon as she said the words, however, she felt like an idiot. There was no way he would've remembered. Who was she kidding?

"It's a good thing you're with me! I'm glad you remembered!" Alfred patted her shoulder and laughed energetically as he clicked away on his phone, "Do you want me to send these to you?"  
"Sure…though…um…I don't have a cell phone."  
"Really?" The American's eyes went wide, "Well how about an e-mail address?"  
"Oh," Natalia looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, "I have one of those, yes." She did have a laptop after all. All of the nations generally had one, or had access to one. Even though it was strictly for work and for keeping track of the country, Natalia did have access to internet, and had gotten an email after her boss suggested it.

"Sweet! I'll send them to you once I get these uploaded to my computer. I don't know how many pictures I can take with this phone, but let's make the most of it!" He handed her the device to look at his photography skills, and she smiled a little as she admired them.

In a flash, the whole train was covered in darkness.

"What's happening?" Alfred questioned as he looked out the window. Golden lights passed them by, but without them his phone seemed to be the only source of light.

"We're in a tunnel. How else did you think we were going to cross that river?" Natalia's face was pale with the glow of Alfred's phone, which she handed back to said person. He kept the phone open, so they could faintly see each other through the darkness of the tunnel. "So this thing runs underneath the river." Was he referring to the tunnel?

However, as soon as they seemed to have plunged, they emerged back up from the tunnel, now on the other side of the city. The train had slowed down by now, and as Alfred looked down at his phone, he realized that he had stayed awake the entire night, and still didn't feel tired.

"It's six o'clock in the morning!"

"I know." Natalia replied with a light yawn, "You are so addicted to caffeine that you didn't sleep at all, I assume."

"Of course not!" Alfred replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I have to stay awake to make sure no one comes in to hurt you! I'm a hero, remember?" Thank goodness for Natalia that dawn hadn't come too fast, for her cheeks had been burning up. Alfred grinned as they pulled into the train station.  
"You sure you can run in those shoes?"  
"W-what? Wait, you were _serious about that?_"  
"Yeah! It's going to be the 'super-awesome-run-through-Budapest-in-under-sixty-minutes-mission'!" Natalia's mouth was left ajar as she scrambled to find words though she couldn't think of anything to say to the American to prevent this crazy idea of his. Oh, she was in for it now.

As the train pulled to a stop, letting gout a hiss of steam, Alfred jumped upon his feet and held out a hand to Natalia. She stared at it for a moment in complete hesitation, before she slowly reached up and gingerly took it, thinking he was just helping her on her feet.

"WOO HOO! LET'S GO!"

With amazing force he slammed open the door and pulled her along the hallway before leaping off of the train, with Natalia running to catch up. "Wait! A-Alfred!" Any attempts to stop him were futile, though despite this she skidded to a halt (practically smelling the burnt rubber on the bottom of her Mary Janes). Alfred, however, hadn't stopped, though when he felt resistance he turned around, forgetting to let go of her hand. The force of his pull sent her tumbling to the ground.

"Natalia!"  
Though before her face met with the pavement, a hand went around her waist and pushed her back up again. The poor girl's platinum hair had been disheveled, her white bow lay crookedly on her head, and her eyes felt like they were swirling in dizziness.

"Are you okay?"  
"Alfred! Listen to me!" She shouted up at him, "Just give me one moment to talk to the conductor and _then_ you can go wreaking havoc!" Alfred nodded in slight worry at the angry girl, who turned on her heel and walked towards the conductor. Honestly! He was so hyper sometimes! Natalia tried to keep her cool as she approached the cheerful conductor.

"When is this train leaving?" She asked as her voice calmed down.

"In forty-five minutes." He replied as he peeked at a pocket watch.

She couldn't help but gasp, "_Forty-five minutes? _But that's not-"

"Forty-five minutes? We gotta go!" Alfred grabbed her hand once more and proceeded to go lightning speed up the steps and out into the city of Budapest.

"You don't even know where you're going!" Natalia yelled as Alfred pulled her past amused onlookers. She heard his enthusiastic laugh as before he shouted, "I know where I'm going! How about down here?" He took a sharp left turn, which tugged Natalia behind the North American nation. As Natalia caught up with him, so that they were running side by side (though she was losing her breath, really, did Alfred have no need to breathe?) they zipped down the sidewalk of a busy city street before arriving in a huge town square.

"Now where do we go?" She looked at Alfred skeptically, though he seemed to be staring at something in the middle of the square.

"Alfred?" She waved her hand in front of his face, "Hello?"  
No response.  
"We're losing time, Alfred!"

Still no response.

"Alfred, what in the world are you doing?" Natalia asked, though she got her answer as the streetlight turned red and the walk sign turned white. He squeezed her hand gently, "Look over there Natalia!"

In the center of the city square were tons of horses, all ready to pull along merry little carriages. Though at first she really couldn't understand what he was thinking, it was the sight of a certain woman that made her begin to realize what he was going to do.  
"Alfred! Natalia! It's so good to see you here!" Elizaveta stood in front of a team of white horses, patting its mane as it whinnied at her. She gave a friendly wave at them as they crossed the street before her eyes rested upon their linked hands.

And then she got that look in her eye.

"What brings you here?" She said with a smile Natalia knew all to well. It was the one she had seen when the Hungarian woman talked with Kiku about couples from different forms of literature the Japanese man had.

In short, it was her fan girl look, which, for anyone standing nearby, meant danger.

"We have about forty minutes to go see the Hero's Square and we don't know how to get there." Alfred took a deep breath after running for so long.

"You guys came at a great time!" Elizaveta exclaimed, "These horses pull carriages through the city for tours! Do you want to ride in one?"  
"We don't have time," Natalia gasped for air, "We have to catch a train."  
"Ah…" There was that wild look again, "Then perhaps you might want to ride a horse there yourself?"  
"What?" Natalia looked at her in disbelief, "I don't know how to ride horses! Besides, is that even legal here?"

"Of course it is silly!" Elizaveta pointed at a white mare standing next to Alfred, "That's the only horse we have free, but she's strong enough to carry both of you!"

Natalia gawked at the horse as Alfred turned to it with a smile. He hadn't even noticed the horse sniffing his hair during the conversation, but he gave it a few pats on the head. After all, he was America! Home of the Wild West! They'd get to that square in no time!

The Belarusian girl stared at the horse as it nuzzled into Alfred. "How are we both supposed to ride her? I'm wearing a dress!"  
"You ride side-saddle!"  
"But what if I fall off?" Natalia had to admit, she was scared of the gentle creature. Elizaveta smirked and lowered her voice, so only she and Natalia could hear, "Alfred will sit behind you and keep his arms around you at all times."

"Elizaveta! You're crazy! I'm not doing that!" Embarrassed, Natalia threw her hands over her rosy cheeks and stepped away from Elizaveta, who shook her head, "C'mon, it you can both run up to me hand-in-hand, then you can ride this horse!"  
"Alfred probably doesn't know how to ride horses!"  
"Are you kidding me?" Alfred heard Natalia's claim and turned around with a bright smile, "I ride horses all the time down in Texas! And I spent a lot of time in the Wild West! C'mon Natalia, it'll be great!" Both the American and the Hungarian seemed to be wearing puppy dog faces, to which Natalia sighed.

"I don't even know how to get on the horse."  
"No problem!" Alfred jumped on the horse and grabbed her hand. With uncertainty she carefully placed a foot in the stirrup iron and tried to hoist herself up. Suddenly, the American wrapped his arm around her waist so as to pull her up, and before she knew it she was sitting side-saddle in front of Alfred. Her face bloomed red, for he reached around her to grab the reins, and Elizaveta beamed at them, "Just go straight down that road till you get to the eighth stoplight, take a left, keep going till you get to the third stoplight, and then take a right! You'll be right there!"

"Thanks Elizaveta!"  
"You're welcome! Return the horse back to me though!"  
"All right!" Alfred tugged on the reins, "Giddyup! Yeehaw!"  
"G-go slow!" Natalia clung for dear life on the white tufts of the horse's mane as it whooshed down the city streets.

"Woo hoo!"  
"AAAAHHH!" Natalia gripped Alfred hands and yanked the reins to the side, "GO ON THE SIDEWALK!" The horse galloped onto the sidewalk as people parted calmly for the horse, as if it were a daily thing.

Elizaveta watched the disappearing sight of Alfred and Natalia with tears in her eyes. Placing a hand over her heart dramatically, she sighed, "Ah, Natalia and her prince riding to the Hero's Square on a white steed…" If Kiku had been here, they would've probably been stalking the couple and talking pictures.

"A-Alfred! Watch out!"  
"I know what I'm doing, Natalia! Just sit back and enjoy the ride!" His strong arms may have been around her and holding the reigns, but the horse had been practically been flying, as if it were Pegasus.

"AAAHH!" As they reached the end of the street and Alfred turned the corner, the inertia nearly sent Natalia off the horse. Quickly she wrapped her arms around Alfred's neck to keep herself from falling. Despite the fact that Alfred has his eyes glued on where they were going, he too turned red. "You're not going to fall off Natalia!" If he was trying to reassure her, it wasn't working. _"I don't even care how weird this looks! I just want to get there safely…AAH!" _ At yet another sharp turn, the girl tightened her grip on Alfred, mentally praying that she would live to see Italy.

"We're almost there! Hi ho Silver, AWAY!" What in the world was this man _saying?_ Oh, no, don't look Natalia. Just keep you're eyes closed and maybe you'll wake up and find that this is a bad dream and you never left Ivan's house after all-

Her eyes shot open.

"Ride like the wind! Make way for the Hero and his friend!" Alfred had a grin that could power all the light in New York City for a whole week. Clearly he was getting a thrill ride of his life, while Natalia fell silent.

"_Actually, now that I think about it, this is much better than being with Ivan…" _She may have been freaking out at how fast they were going, but deep down the adrenaline rush felt amazing. She was…she was having fun (in a crazy sense).

"_If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up." _But she knew it wasn't a dream, and to her relief she knew she wasn't going to bolt upright and find herself in Ivan's house in the guest room.

"Isn't this awesome Natalia?" Alfred shouted as people on the streets now turned to stare at the sight. Someone even shouted, 'Congratulations!' at them. Congratulations? _For what?_

Oh. Oh man.

"_Oh, we look like a couple trying to reach a Church on time to be married!"_ In the back of Natalia's now train-wrecked mind she reminisced on the romance books she read that took place in India, where the groom went riding on a white steed to the wedding to marry the bride.

"_But I'm not Indian, we're not getting married, and I'm pretty sure we're going to get arrested for this before we reach our train!" _All hopes of seeing Italy dashed from her mind, but soon her thoughts went blank as up ahead she saw a huge pillar topped with a statue of an angel.

"Yay! We're here!"

Alfred tugged on the reins and the horse slowed to a trot and eventually stopped. He gazed around at the area before he heard Natalia's breathless words.

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah. The Hero's Square…" Alfred trailed off and adjusted his glasses, as if to make sure what he was seeing was real.

In the dawn of Budapest, there stood two rows of magnificent, ivory colored pillars. Between each pillar valiantly stood a statue of a Hungarian Hero, with seven statues in each row. On top of the pillar towards the center sat a pair of horses and chariots, facing each other, and between them stood the tallest pillar in the very center, upon which the statue of an angel gazed over Budapest with the royal crown in one hand and what looked like a cross in the other. Needless to say, it was truly worth the crazy run there.

"C'mon Natalia!" Alfred lightly pulled her arms off of him and jumped down. Turning to her, he outstretched his arms, waiting for her to get off. The blonde girl looked a little scared for a moment before taking a deep breath and jumping off of the horse. Alfred caught her arms so she wouldn't fall, and for a moment to two looked at each other before Natalia huffed and pulled her arms away. "You're a crazy American, Alfred!" She scolded him, "You could've gotten us killed! Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if the police are after us right now!" Alfred sighed with a smile on his face.

"You liked it." When he didn't get a claim of denial from the Belarusian, he kept the grin plastered to his face and walked a little farther away from the horse.

"Where are you going?" Natalia watched as Alfred pulled out his phone and motioned for her to move. "Go near the center…Keep moving…I'll tell you when to stop."

Natalia shifted over to her right until Alfred held up a hand and she halted. He kept his eyes on his phone before looking up at to meet the blue eyed gaze of the girl.

"Smile, Natalia!"  
"What?" She heard a 'click!' and then Alfred sighing.

"Well, I got you, but you were blinking..." Alfred looked around and spotted a nearby tourist.  
"Excuse me Miss, but could you take a picture of my friend and I here? Please?"  
"Sure!" The woman seemed really friendly as she took Alfred's phone and figured out the buttons while Alfred went over to Natalia.  
"She'll take a picture of us here! So smile pretty, Natalia!" Alfred looked down at the girl who adjusted her bow before the woman lifted the phone.  
"Smile on the count of three!" She said cheerfully. Alfred threw an arm around Natalia's shoulder, causing her to gasp and look at him with wide eyes.

"One…" The woman steadied the phone as Natalia blushed at the sudden contact.

"Two…" A smile grew on Alfred's face.

"Three!" With a 'click!' she took their picture and then giggled as she analyzed it, "This came out really well!" She handed it back to Alfred, who thanked her and tried to open up the photo album on his phone to see.

"What time is it?" Natalia walked over to where the woman had been standing moments before, and Alfred went back to the main screen on his phone.  
"Wait, lemme see…" He smiled, "Oh, it's six thirty five!"  
"Alfred!" Natalia face paled as she jerked the phone out of his hand, "We have to go!"  
"Never fear! The Hero is here!" He took a hero pose and laughed, though Natalia had already began running towards the horse. Alfred rolled his eyes at her paranoia; they weren't going to miss the train! They had ten minutes left to…

They had ten minutes left.

"Ah! Wait! Natalia!" He sprinted over to the horse and jumped on in a whirl. After Natalia had gotten on, the blonde American pulled the reigns on the horse and yelled, "Let's go!"  
"AAH!" In an instant Natalia's arms went around Alfred's neck as they both stared at the busy Hungarian streets before them; Natalia with a frightened expression and Alfred with a determined smirk.

This time it had taken them five minutes to reach Elizaveta, which was still a lot of time considering they had five minutes to run to the train station. The waking city of Budapest had now been bustling with traffic, making it hard to maneuver their way through to the square where Elizaveta sat talking to tourists. She glanced up as she saw them, and with the fan girl smile she began to say something but Alfred had cut her off.

"Thanks Elizaveta, but we have to go now! See ya!" They both jumped off of the saddle at the same time and ran like rabbits for the train station. Elizaveta just blinked as they disappeared.

As they ran Natalia lifted her skirt just enough so she wouldn't trip on them. She began losing breath very quickly, though she continued to dash behind Alfred. After pushing their way through crowds and shouting apologies behind them, they finally made it to the stairs, which they practically tumbled down since their legs turned to jelly.

"We're almost there!" Alfred shouted, but the train had slowly begun moving with its whistle resounding through the station. Natalia's stamina was running out, as she had been worn out from their first run earlier, but as the caboose seemed to be going father away from them at a faster pace, she began to sweat.

Alfred, being a larger country, seemed to catch up to the last car and with a jump he gripped the iron railing and swung himself onto the back of the caboose. A sigh escaped his lips, but his relief disappeared as he saw Natalia sprinting out of sheer panic for the caboose.

"Wait!" She cried fruitlessly as her feet began to hurt. Her dress shoes were not made for running.

"Natalia!" Alfred swung to the side and extended his hand as slight fear began to spring up inside him. She was running as fast as she could, but the train was picking up speed. Making up his mind, Alfred kept a hard-as-steel grip on the railing as he let half of his body off the edge of the caboose, so as to extend his reach farther.

"Just a little faster…" A burst of energy coursed through her as she leapt for the caboose and grabbed Alfred's hand. With a grunt Alfred pulled her onto the back of the caboose, to which she collapsed and sat on the floor breathing for air. Both of them panted as the lights of the train station disappeared and they traveling in the sunrise over Budapest.

"Tha…that was close…" Alfred whispered between gulps of air. Natalia nodded as she still attempted to catch her breath. Gripping the iron railing, she stood up shakily and looked over at Alfred.

"Can…I…see your phone?"

"Hmm…? Oh…here." He handed the device to her, to which she flipped it open.

There, on the background of his phone, was a picture taken under the twilit sky of Budapest in front of the Hero's Square, where Alfred stood with a million megawatt grin and his arm wrapped around Natalia's shoulder, with the blushing Belarusian girl giving a happy smile.

Author's Note: Wow…this was really long too. Oh wow. Well, I like writing it! It made me to do some research on Budapest, but I need to say a few things. First of all, please don't ride horses around in Budapest! I don't even know if that's allowed, but I put it in here because Elizaveta likes horses. I think horse and carriage tours are given throughout Hungary, but again, I'm not sure of that. Also, that part about Indian marriages is true. The groom rides on a white horse (although I don't know if it has to be white specifically) to the bride at the wedding! Oh, and before I forget, all of the information I found out about Budapest, Hungary, and the sights there I got from these sources: .org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9chenyi_Chain_Bridge

.org/wiki/Budapest

.org/wiki/H%C5%91s%C3%B6k_tere

Just so I don't get arrested, because none of it was mine!

Disclaimer: Again, so I'm not arrested, I don't own Hetalia or anything related to it. But I do have a feeling that magazine is a bunch of wikipedia articles! ^_^ Jk


	6. Chapter 6: Amore, Venician Style: Part I

"…Go fish."  
Natalia picked up a card from the neat deck between her and a blonde haired, energetic American. Eyeing the card, she looked up at the man, who narrowed his eyes and glanced back at his cards.  
"You got a ten of hearts?"  
"…No. Go fish."  
"Darn." The blonde drew from the deck and stared at Natalia, who had suddenly begun to smirk.

"Do you have an Ace of diamonds?"  
"Yeah." He handed her the card with a sigh, to which she yawned.

"Alfred, we've been playing this game for hours now…"  
"But it's not over yet!"  
"You have two cards left," She kept her sly smirk, "And you really shouldn't wear glasses when you play."  
"Ah, you cheated…" Placing his cards down, Alfred leaned back in his seat, "You see all my cards through the reflection, huh? That's why you keep staring so intensely at me." Natalia rolled her eyes but blushed. She didn't think he'd realize it. Then again, she had focused on the reflection, so she hadn't seen the equally intense gaze Alfred had returned.

Shuffling the cards back into the deck, she thought about the time. It didn't seem like it had been hours since they jumped onto the train, but card games seemed to make the time go by faster. At first she refused to play card games with Alfred, knowing how he had once hung out with Francis when he was pulling away from Arthur. The thought made her shudder; who knows what Francis might've taught him to play? Like strip poker or something. After an hour of persuading, she finally decided to play Go Fish with him, and after about fifty rounds of this game, they finally stopped.

"When are we arriving in Venice?"

"Very soon, I believe." They were going under another long tunnel, since Venice was practically out in a gulf.

"What'cha wanna do when we get there?" Natalia gave him an 'are-you-serious' look before replying calmly, "Go reserve a spot at a hotel, I suppose. Then we should go to the museums." Natalia pulled out the magazine while Alfred pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. This was the first time he was going to be away from home for his birthday. Natalia probably didn't know it would be on Sunday, though it didn't matter. He didn't want her to feel as if she had to do something special that day.

"We can see St. Mark's Basilica. These pictures of the inside look beautiful…"

"The gondolas! Don't forget the gondolas!" Alfred suddenly sprung out of his seat and gave her a beaming smile, "They give boat tours around Venice, you know!"  
"Well…" Natalia gave him a sideways glance, "All right…" She still wasn't sure about sitting in a gondola with him like in a cheesy love story, but if she remembered correctly, a very important day for Alfred was coming up…  
_"It's his birthday soon, isn't it?" _Natalia blinked and looked up at the American, who had been shuffling the cards like he just walked out of Vegas, _"I wonder what he would like for his birthday…normally he has a huge fireworks display, but this time he won't be home for his party…"_

Wait. That meant that…

Alfred was spending his birthday with her.

"_Oh my goodness! I hope he doesn't get bored or sad or anything! He usually has such elaborate celebrations that he might hate spending his birthday with me!" _Natalia paled as her shoulders slumped over and she stared at the American's black shoes. How could she outdo fireworks and cake and all of his friends going to a party? They were going to Italy for goodness sake, there was no way she could-

"Hey Natalia?" A hand began waving in her face, "You look a little panicky there…You ok?"  
"Huh?" She gazed up at him and nodded like a bobble head, "O-oh, I'm fine. Just…thinking about…how I'm going to find Feliciano! And give him my sister's thanks!" Great excuse. She got out of that one quickly!  
"Well…we could just go to Rome. I think that's where he's staying…" Alfred replied thoughtfully, though Natalia shook her head.  
"We ought to call him before we arrive. Otherwise it would be rude of us to intrude. He might not even be there, now that I think about it…"

"Why not?"  
"He and Ludwig have a relationship, you know…"  
"Oh yeah! That's right!" Alfred's eyes brightened as he remembered, "It's about time they got together…" He continued shuffling the cards while keeping his gaze on Natalia, who seemed to have been pondering over something before she looked out the window with a small, fond smile.

"You look really happy."  
"I just…" She sighed as she tried to control the growing excitement in her voice, "I just can't wait to go to Venice! I hear so many wonderful things about it! It's like a city floating on water! The only way to really get around is by gondola, since a lot of the alleyways are water!" Alfred just smiled and nodded as she spoke, knowing how much she wanted to see the city. As a matter of fact, he had been to Italy many times, mostly to go sightseeing, and the Vargas brothers had always been happy to give him tours. However, this was the first time he was ever going to go with a friend.

"This will be great! I'm sure it's going to be a lot more fun going in a gondola with my friend than by myself!" He grinned as she flushed and wondered if he had been to Italy before. As Alfred explained to her about the tours he had taken with the Vargas brothers, the train's speed diminished, and soon they were pulling into the train station of Venice.

"-And then while Romano was showing me around to some of the islands, Luddy showed up out of no where trying to find Feliciano and they both got in this huge fight! It was crazy!" Alfred laughed as Natalia shook her head. Those two were always getting in fights it seemed, though most of them started because Romano provoked Ludwig.

"This is our last stop at Venice, Italy. Please remember to take all of your belongings when boarding or leaving the train, and thank you for traveling with us!" A soft female voice boomed over the intercom system at the train station, and Natalia glanced out the window for a brief moment to see all of the friendly looking Italians walking past the train.

"Ve~ And if you're stopping here in Venice, make sure you try some _paaastaaa_!"  
Natalia face palmed.

"Was that…Feliciano?"  
"Only_ he_ says the word 'Pasta' with such emphasis…" She and Alfred exchanged glances briefly before they erupted into light laughs. "C'mon…let's go see Venice!" He pulled out their luggage as Natalia opened the door for him, and they poured out of the train with the rest of the crowd.

Alfred set the luggage down in front of him and glanced over the heads of the crowd while Natalia looked down into her magazine. There were many hotels listed in the magazine, but she didn't know how long they would stay there, which would affect the price. She got distracted, though, as a voice called out to her from behind.

"Natalia! Alfred! What are you doing here? Ve~ are you going sightseeing?" When the Belarusian girl turned she met with the sight of a cheerful looking Italian that she and Alfred knew all too well from his frequent shouts of 'Pasta!' during meetings. The Italian immediately gave them both a hug, which startled Natalia a little, before pulling back and asking once more, "Are you going sightseeing?"  
"Yeah! It's seems like a great time to do it too…We were planning on checking out Venice before heading to Rome," Alfred looked around, "Where's Luddy?"

"Oh!" For the first time, Natalia saw Feliciano's caramel brown eyes open to reveal worry, "I'm very sorry, but I'd rather you not visit Rome right now…"  
"Why…?" Natalia asked softly, to which the Italian man attempted to smile.

"Antonio and my brother have had a relationship for quite a while now, and he suggested that we go on a double date!"  
"So Antonio and Romano…and you and Luddy?" Alfred asked with uncertainty.  
"Yes! And so when Romano came to my place in Rome, he got very angry when he saw Doitsu and began throwing potatoes and tomatoes at him!" Suddenly tears seemed to prick the corners of Feliciano's eyes, "The whole city…it…it…"

"Looks like a jar of Ragu?" Alfred offered.  
"Yes!" Suddenly Feliciano burst into tears, "P-please don't come over! I-it would be so em-embarrassing! My home is a total mess!"

"Oh…" With hesitation, Natalia placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it gently, hoping he would stop crying soon. Alfred took this chance to smile at him reassuringly and reply, "Don't worry, Feli! Do you need any help cleaning up Rome? Cuz' you know, I am a hero!" Feliciano looked up at him through tears and gave him an appreciative smile, "It's ok…Doitsu and I are cleaning up while Antonio is keeping my brother here in Venice…away from my boyfriend…"

"If you need anything," Natalia was so quiet she couldn't even hear herself, "Just call us. We'll be here in Venice." Both men seemed to stare at her for a moment.

Was she…being nice?

"Ve~ I will, Natalia! Thank you!" Much to Natalia's surprise he gave her and Alfred another hug out of gratitude for such nice friends. When he pulled away, his eyes rested on the magazine in the girl's hand, to which he smiled cheerfully.

"Ooh, when you go around Venice," His mood began to lift as he talked fondly, "You should have some pasta for dinner! And gelato for dessert! It's very delicious; I know you'll love it!" Natalia sighed in slight relief for the Italian's tears went away. He now seemed to be completely happy talking about one of his greatest loves: Italian food.

"By the way," Feliciano's expression became thoughtful, "Did you know that Francis came over?"  
"…_What?_" Natalia gaped at him while Alfred stood stone still.

"Francis came over! He loves coming here during the summer to flirt with Italian women…" Oh no. This was not good. If Francis saw Natalia with Alfred, who knows what kind of rumors he would spread to the other countries?

"Ve~ but don't worry. He's probably at the beach right now…" Phew. As long as Francis stayed at the beach, they'd be ok.

"Oh, Feliciano! My sister wanted to thank you for the Italian cookbook you gave her…" It just came to her mind and she thanked herself for remembering. The shock of knowing that Francis was there nearly made her forget!  
"Ve~ I'm happy she liked it! I could lend her some more anytime! Oh," He glanced off somewhere in the distance, "Please excuse me! I have to go back to the intercom and tell everyone not to go to Rome for now."  
"Is that what you were doing here?"  
"Yes." He replied timidly, "I have to make sure no one goes while the place is a mess!"  
"Ok…good luck cleaning up Rome!" Alfred gave him an enthusiastic pat on the back.

"Thank you! And have fun on your travels! If you need advice on where to go, just call me in Rome! Ciao~!" Feliciano's voice rang happily over the crowd while Natalia and Alfred waved goodbye.

"It was nice seeing him again." Alfred murmured, while Natalia nodded and began focusing back on the magazine.

"Look Alfred. There is a place called the Hotel Bonvechiatti. It's about $150 dollars a night for a room with two beds. It's very close to a waterway, so we'd probably have to pay for a ride, but there's a bridge nearby too." She pointed at the picture of a grand looking place with ivory colored walls and beautiful Italian architecture. A little right of the hotel was a quaint bridge alight under streetlamps.

"Sounds nice!" Alfred picked up the bags effortlessly, "You think we should get a taxi?"  
"Yes, but let me pay for it." After buying her the magazine it was the least she could do.

They left the train station, only to meet with a wonderful (and slightly shocking) sight.

Venice was beautiful, with the walls of the cream colored buildings carved into beautiful designs, reflecting upon Italy's artistic side. There were long alleyways that seemed to stretch on forever, but the moment Natalia looked to her right she saw a vast river of water sparkling under the noonday sun. The most surprising thing of all, of course, was…

There were no taxis.

"_Well, I should've thought of it before," _Natalia rolled her eyes at her own logic, _"Venice is full of waterways. They don't have cars here. They have boats!"  
_Indeed many little boats seemed to be speeding about the river. Natalia watched as an Italian woman signaled for one of them and the boat pulled up to her. She clambered in and handed the boat's driver some money before they speeded off.

"Water taxis!"  
"Hmm?" Alfred looked down at her with a clueless smile, to which she pointed past him at the orange colored boats. "They're water taxis, Alfred. That's how we're going to get around!" She paused for a moment before pulling out her money, "Alfred, you wouldn't mind waiting here with the luggage, right?"  
"Sure, but where are you going?"  
"I'm just going back into the station to see if I can change my money to Italian Lira. I'll be right back…"  
"Wait," Alfred pulled out his own wallet and handed her his money, "Can you change that too?"  
"Sure. Be right back!" She sprinted inside the train station while Alfred smiled and looked out at the huge river. It was the afternoon in Venice, so perhaps they ought to get lunch after checking into the hotel. Afterwards they could rest for a bit in their rooms, then go out to dinner and maybe even ride the gondola at nightfall.

"_My birthday's tomorrow…but I think this will be fun!"_ It was the first time he spent his birthday away from home. Natalia probably didn't know it was his birthday, but if he remembered correctly, her birthday was in August, wasn't it?

Nonetheless, Alfred gazed around at the buildings, most of which had long strips of balconies with arched windows overlooking the calm waters. They were clearly old buildings, but that fact made them all the more charismatic. Boats lined the docks next to the streets just waiting for people to climb in them for a ride around the grand city. People were bustling through the alleys, especially near the docks, taking many pictures of the beautiful place. Across the river Alfred glimpsed smaller waterways emerging from the main on and disappearing behind many boats and buildings. Vaguely he remembered the time Feliciano tried rowing a gondola with his brother and Antonio in the loveseat, though Romano got angry and threw Antonio in the water. The American still chuckled at the memory.

"What are you laughing about?" Natalia had come back and gave him his money.

"Just…old times in Venice. Romano and Feliciano gave some pretty funny tours." Alfred stuffed his wallet back in his pocket and picked up the bags. The two of them headed off for the docks, where a stubby man sat patiently waiting for a customer in his shiny water taxi. It seemed no longer than a regular land taxi, though since it was a boat it seemed rather like a speedboat. With a polished front and a fresh coat of tan paint, the boat looked ready to go.

"Sup man? We need to go to the Sole Hotel, por favor!" Natalia found it hard to contain her laughter. She slapped Alfred's shoulder and shook her head, "We are in Italy, not Spain! Besides, I do not think he knows American lingo!"  
"Who knows? Maybe Spain's influencing Romano to adopt his language. You never knooow~…" Alfred replied in a sing song voice. Natalia sighed.

"I'll handle this," She turned to the man, "We would like to go to the Hotel Bonvecchiati, please."

"Ok. $38,236 Liras."  
"That seems…like a lot…" Natalia almost looked scared. How much money was that?

"It's around…$25?" Alfred replied, "Which in your currency would be 75,249 Rubles."

"Oh…ok…" The shock that she could've been paying him tons of money didn't quite leave her yet, though Alfred immediately pulled out his wallet and gave the man his money.

When they hopped in with their bags, Natalia noticed how many rows of seats there were. From the outside the water taxis didn't seem too big, but on the inside it had places for many passengers to sit. The taxi they were in was empty, save for the two of them, though Alfred motioned for her to sit next to the window. A trail of white foam was left behind them as they began cruising through the huge river.

"Alfred…may I use your cell phone please?"  
"Sure." He reached into his pocket and handed his phone to the girl, who began taking pictures of the beautiful buildings and the pretty river that emanated Italian charm. The air the flowed into the boat smelled fresh and clean and it blew Natalia's hair behind her like a billowing curtain of platinum.

"Venice is awesome!" Natalia nodded enthusiastically at her friend as they branched off into a smaller waterway. This time the buildings were clearly much older, with worn red bricks and slightly cracking paint, though the wrought iron fences around each window were adorned with colorful flowers, giving it a pleasant look.

Up ahead were a few gondolas rowing close to the sides, making way for their water taxi. As they sailed through the water, Alfred glanced over at Natalia, whose navy eyes were wide open, trying to take in every detail of the old city.

"Hey, Natalia…"  
"Hmm?"

"You wanna get lunch when we get to the hotel…? I mean, we don't have to, you could rest if you want…" To Alfred's surprise, Natalia rolled her eyes at him.

"Alfred, if you're hungry, why don't you just say so? Of course we'll get lunch. But I think I should warn you now that there is no McDonald's here to my knowledge." Natalia rolled her eyes, for Alfred looked like a deer in headlights.

"Oh man…you're right…THERE IS NO MICKEY D'S HERE!"  
"Alfred!" She planted the magazine over his mouth now, "Please keep quiet! You don't want us to get kicked out _in the middle of the river_."

"Heheh…sorry. It's just…shocking."

"What did you do the last time you came here?" Natalia doubted he would survive in a place without McDonalds. But then again, maybe he just cooked his own burgers when he previously visited.

"Well," He got a faraway look in his eyes, as if he were in the scene playing in his memory, "I went to McDonald's at my house and ordered, like, 200 Big Macs before coming here-"

"Allacciate le cincture, per favore." They both looked up at the driver. Was he…talking to them?

"_Well, of course…there's no one else on this boat…"  
_"Hey, Italian's cool and all, but we have no idea what you just said. Don't you speak English?" Alfred leaned over the arm rest of his seat so that he was peering curiously down the aisle at the driver, wondering what he was going to do. The driver suddenly looked up an gave a grin before-

"AAAAHHH!"  
"WHOA!"

The boat started zooming so fast that huge waves rolled in its wake and crashed into other boats. The blond American fell completely out of his seat and onto the aisle while Natalia clung to the luggage for dear life.

"SLOW DOWN!" Her eyes widened as the man took a sharp turn, causing Natalia to smack into the window while Alfred scrambled around looking for his glasses.

"We may be on the water, but aren't there any speed limits?"

"Where is Texas?"  
"Siamo qui!"

"Wha-AH!" The boat stopped so abruptly that water splashed onto the docks. Natalia flung forward and hit her head on the sit in front of her while Alfred managed to find his glasses and put them back on.

"Dude, what was that for?" Alfred stood and glared at the smiling driver, who opened the door before calmly replying, "We are here!"  
"Huh?" Alfred adjusted his glasses, "Cool! C'mon Natalia!" Said Belarusian stood and huffed angrily at the driver as they exited. Honestly, what was the point of going so fast? However, as Alfred grabbed her hand and helped her up onto the stone street, she took a glimpse back at the man, only to see him stuffing his face with what looked like a foot long sub. Well, there's a shock.

As Natalia smoothed her hair out with her fingers, she wondered about her stay in Venice. At first it seemed like it would be a rather odd idea to stay there with Alfred of all people, but slowly she was getting used to it…even looking forward to it… Though the thought of Francis being there was causing her tons of paranoia, it didn't seem like he'd show up anytime soon (since he was probably busy with a bunch of Italian women). As long as he never found out that the both of them were visiting Venice together, then there would be no problem.

Oh no. There was a total problem.

"_Feliciano!"_

The Italian was sweet and generous and probably meant well for them, but his problem was he was usually so scatterbrained that he let slip tons of things! She couldn't count how many times he had accidentally said something embarrassing about Ludwig when talking to Gilbert about their relationship (and Natalia always heard it, since the Vargas brothers sat across from her at meetings). So if he could go about spilling gossip unintentionally about his boyfriend, of all people, then word would spread like wildfire to Francis that she and Alfred were both seeing Venice _together._

Everything from her neck up grew bright red.

"_Oh Feliciano, please don't tell Francis! Please don't let Francis stalk us like the voyeur he is!" _

"Natalia? You alright?" Alfred suddenly came into view with a blank expression on his face, as if he were trying to figure out something. For a moment Natalia opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, thinking it better not to let Alfred know of her concerns. After all, they would have no fun if they constantly looked over their shoulders for an unshaven Frenchman.

"I get it!" Alfred snapped his fingers, as if he just solved a mystery, "You're too hot!"  
"P-pardon?" What was he saying? Did he say what she thought he just said?  
"You're too hot! Venice is always hot this time of year, and you're wearing a dress! How about you go shopping later for some lighter clothes while I go find us a nice restaurant for lunch? I mean, after we check in, of course!" To tell the truth, Alfred's suggestion made total sense. She was literally burning up in heat, as underneath her blue dress had been a petticoat, and even then she still wore white leggings under that. No wonder she felt ready to pass out! _"Not that that is a bad idea, for I would probably drop into the cool water if I fainted…but then I could drown…" _Then again, Alfred wouldn't let her drown; he'd probably go into 'hyper hero' mode and save her…

No way. She would rather drown and save herself from the embarrassment and cheesiness that idea brought on.

"Um…alright." Natalia muttered. Alfred gave her a friendly smile before they both turned around to find…

"The Hotel Bonvecchiati…" The words whispered breathlessly from Natalia's mouth disappeared in the breeze.

It was beautiful.

Out front there had been a small café surrounding the entrance and enclosed within a short stone fence. On top of the fence had been many beautiful red and white peonies decorating it. As Natalia's eyes traveled around, she noted how many people there were drinking coffee and chatting happily with one another underneath the green awning that shielded the café from the hot Italian sun. There had been three flags, one of them the Italian flag that waved happily in the wind. Though they were standing in a somewhat large alleyway enclosed by three buildings, she could see that the main building of the hotel itself was connected to another building next to it. Though it only seemed to be a few floors high, it seemed to have attracted many tourists.

"Whoa! This place is amazing! You sure know how to pick 'em!" Alfred gave her a huge grin before picking up their bags, "Let's go inside!" Alfred ran in with an excited expression, like a kid in a candy store, while Natalia followed through the path in the café to the pretty foyer, which left her in awe.

Marble floors gave way to a huge staircase beside the receptionist's desk, and all over the place were beautiful pieces of art, such as statues and vases and beautifully embroidered pillows and what not. All of them had been proudly on display, either out in the open or in glass cases. For a moment Natalia had become distracted, gazing at the attractions while Alfred at approached the receptionist's desk. A tanned woman had been putting her hair up in a clip, though as she laid her eyes on Alfred she gave a coy smile and batted her lashes, though Alfred just smiled politely in his usual oblivious ways.

"Come posso aiutare voi?" She asked in a sultry voice. Alfred just blinked, completely unaware of the woman's flirting, before asking, "Um…can I have a room-er, two rooms, please?"  
"Ah," The woman nodded and began clicking away on her computer, "How many days are you staying?" She spoke through her thick accent.

"Um, well…Hey Natalia!" Said girl turned around, "How long should we stay?" Natalia gave a small shrug before replying, "How about four days?" It sounded like a little amount of time, but there was still all of Europe to see. As Natalia neared the counter, she saw the woman looking her over with a haughty air before turning her attention back to Alfred. As if on purpose, the woman attempted to give Alfred the most flirtatious smile she could muster, "That will be 894,214 Liras for one room, 1,788,428 Liras for both rooms. But if you want…" She twirled her long bangs and leaned a little over the counter, so that she was closer to Alfred, "I could give you…a discount…"  
"We'll be taking the rooms." Natalia glare would've melted girl on the spot, if she had heat vision, of course. The woman hesitated for a moment before leaning back and typing away quickly on the computer. Alfred gave a nervous chuckle at the tension between the two women and then patted Natalia's shoulder, hoping to calm her down. She simply huffed and looked away, deciding to analyze one of the nice vases in a display case.

"Your rooms are numbers 18 and 19." The Belarusian girl pulled out her money and began counting it until a hand stopped her.

"What do you think your doing?" Alfred asked with a smile.

"I am paying for our rooms."  
"No you're not."  
"Look, last time you bought me a magazine. Next time you can pay for the rooms." That made Alfred sigh and nod at her as she paid the woman the money and was handed the keys, along with a dirty look. Natalia simply rolled her eyes and she and Alfred began climbing up the stairs.

Once they got to their rooms, Natalia couldn't help but gasp at it. It was _gorgeous!_

From the glimmering chandelier to the long curtains one would see in a palace, the whole room looked so elegant! There were paintings placed upon the walls, a pretty bed covered in crisp white sheets, a TV, and even a small breakfast table near the window overlooking the waterways. Upon the table, Natalia observed, was a dainty tea set made of China. _"It's almost like a palace." _She thought to herself as she crossed over to the wooden drawers, where above it on the wall a mirror lined with a golden colored frame. _"This is so amazing…I should thank Feliciano what a nice job they have done-"_

"Oof!" Alfred had tripped over Natalia's luggage bag as he tried to bring it into the room.

"Wait, let me help you!" The Belarusian hurried over to Alfred and helped him up. While he adjusted his glasses, Natalia rolled the luggage into the room and sighed.

"It's beautiful…"

"Yeah. You have good taste! Speaking of taste, why don't we go find a restaurant?" Alfred smoothed out his dirty blonde hair and grinned when Natalia shook her head at him.

"You're always thinking about food. Well, I have to go buy some lighter clothes anyways." She blinked as Alfred offered her his arm, but then she grabbed her purse and looped her arm through his.

"Yay!" Alfred shouted, "To the hamburgers!  
"Um, we're in Venice, Alfred."  
"Right…heheh…to the pasta!"

…

It was such a nice day, as Francis Bonnefoy had gotten twelve dinner dates before breakfast, and then he sat down with Feliciano at a nice restaurant for lunch. While Feliciano worried that they wouldn't be able to clean up Rome in time for all the summer tourists, Francis calmed the Italian down with reassuring words. Though as Feliciano was thanking him, the Frenchman's eyes wandered across the waterway, where a pretty girl walked into a designer clothing store.

"_Where have I seen her before?"_

The dress looked familiar, so maybe it had been one of his previous dates, though he felt as if this girl was familiar to him in a different way. When the girl walked out of the store a little while later that was when it caught up to him.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IVAN'S SISTER DOING IN VENICE?"

"EH?" Feliciano was taken aback from Francis' sudden outburst before a look of remembrance shined in his caramel colored eyes, "Oh, Big Brother Francis, she and Alfred are touring Venice!"  
"What?" Francis looked completely shocked, "You mean that _américain _it dating her?"

"I don't know about that…but they seem to be good friends…Do you want some of my pasta?" While Feliciano happily ate his food, Francis felt like he was just slapped. How could the American get in her pants before him? What did he have that Francis himself didn't have? While Francis was proud of Alfred for pulling the moves on her, he disliked knowing that one of the only countries Francis had not slept with was sleeping with Alfred first. Everyone would make fun of him and how even Alfred had more skills that him.  
This was not acceptable. Francis Bonnefoy had to bed her first.

And with that, he began making a plan…

… 

Author's note: Phew! Sorry guys that it took me so long to put this up! I guess I'm just lazy…heheh… Anyways, the Hotel Bonvecchiati is an actual hotel in Venice. The price I said the rooms were at is incorrect, only because I don't know the actual price of the rooms! I got all of my info from _http : / w w w . hotel bonvecchiati .it /_ just without the spaces! Oh, I wonder what Francis has in store for Natalia…o.O Thanks everyone for the reviews (and your patience!)


	7. Chapter 7: Author's note

Hey everyone, it's MidnightShadow001! I just wanted to thank you all for the wonderful reviews for this story! I really enjoy this couple. But before you think that I'm not going to continue the story, think again! I'm going to continue (and hopefully finish) Let's Go My Way! However, it will be in the spring (next year) where I feel I will have more inspiration so when I do write it, this fic will be at its best! Again thank you, and I hope you come back and read this fic in the spring!

~MidnightShadow001


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